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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |
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Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics, Vol. 2
Pushover (1952) Human
Desire (1953) Nightfall (1955)
The Brothers Rico (1958) City of
Fear (1958)
NOTE: City of Fear is compared to the Blu-ray edition HERE
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Product Description: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and The Film Foundation partner once again to bring five films to DVD for the first time, fully restored and remastered, in Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics II. In this second volume, renowned directors Fritz Lang, Phil Karlson, and Irving Lerner are joined by Jacques Tourneur and Richard Quine in proving that lust, adultery, greed, and revenge all adds up to cold, calculated murder. Film Noir Classics II takes you on a dark journey among lowlifes and mobsters, cops and gun molls, and the dimwitted, hapless pawns who forever changed the landscape of cinema, and whose doomed paths are as disturbing today as when they were first committed to film. |
Titles
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Pushover (1952) - Richard Quine, a sometime actor best known today for his career as a director at Columbia in the 50s and early 60s, never became a cult hero, but a surprising number of his pictures hold up pretty well. This is one of them, a 1954 noir item with echoes of Double Indemnity. An aging cop (Fred MacMurray) falls in love with a bank robber's girlfriend (Kim Novak in her first major role, and if you're as much of a pushover for her early work as I am, you can't afford to miss this). Adapted from two novels—Thomas Walsh's The Night Watch and William S. Ballinger's Rafferty—by Roy Huggins .
Excerpt from Jonathan Rosenbaum's capsule at the Chicago Reader located HERE Human Desire (1953) - Fritz Lang's 1954 American version of the Zola novel (and Renoir film) La bete humaine. Gloria Grahame, at her brassiest, pleads with Glenn Ford to do away with her slob of a husband, Broderick Crawford. Lang mines the railroad setting for a remarkably rich series of visual correlatives to his oppressively Catholic conception of guilt and retribution. A gripping melodrama, marred only by Ford's inability to register an appropriate sense of doom. Excerpt of Dave Kehr's review at the Chicago Reader located HERE.
Excerpt from Film4 located HERE
Excerpt of Dave Kehr's review at the Chicago Reader located HERE.
City of Fear (1958) - Pacy Columbia B-picture from a film-maker who did pretty well on the barest of resources and later won praise from Martin Scorsese (who also hired him as co-editor on New York, New York). Edwards escapes from prison with a sealed cannister he believes contains $1m worth of heroin. In fact he's toting radioactive cobalt that could contaminate the whole city. The premise is more exciting than the execution, but the movie's strong on seedy atmosphere (notable b/w camerawork from Lucien Ballard) and there's an excellent jazz-tinged score from Jerry Goldsmith. |
Posters
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Theatrical Releases: 1952 - 1958
DVD Review: Sony (5-disc) - Region 1 - NTSC
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DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from:
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| Distribution | Sony - Region 1 - NTSC | |
| Time: | Respectively - 1:27:36, 1:30:42, 1:18:51, 1:31:27, + 1:15:03 | |
| Bitrate: Pushover |
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| Bitrate: Human Desire |
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| Bitrate: Nightfall |
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| Bitrate: The Brothers Rico |
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| Bitrate: City of Fear |
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| Audio | English (original mono) | |
| Subtitles | English, None | |
| Features |
Release Information:
Edition Details:
• Terror and Desire with Emily Mortimer
on Human Desire (9:37)
• Trailers |
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| Comments: |
NOTE: City of Fear is compared to the Blu-ray edition HERE The stars are definitely out in the Sony Noir vol. 2 package with hunky guys Glenn Ford, Richard Conte, Aldo Ray, Vince Edwards and Brian Keith and then there's Fred MacMurray plus some sweet and sour gals like Anne Bancroft, Gloria Grahame and we get the film debut of Miss Kim Novak! What about the directors? We have Fritz Lang, Jacques Tourneur and Phil Karlson showcasing work. An exciting time for fans of the black cinema! Warner have come alive with their upcoming Film Noir Classics Collection 5, but Sony beat them to the punch by a week in their follow up of the Columbia Film Noir Classic Vol. 1 with this second entry in the DVD package series. Human Desire is the only title that has seen the digital-light-of-day previously (in Japan and Spain) and we have compared some captures below from our review HERE. NOTE: We've been told that Pushover also exists via a Spanish edition ("La Casa Numero 322") - thanks Irina + jloken! The five feature films of this boxset are all filmed in black and white and reside on individual, progressively transferred DVD discs. Each is single-layered (only) in their original aspect ratios - 1:85, 16X9, anamorphically, enhanced. Each disc is coded for Region 1 in the NTSC standard. They have original mono audio (or 2.0 channel stereo) and each offer optional English subtitles in a bright yellow font with an annoying black background. The package (image above) is a three tiered Digi-pak housed inside a handsome cardboard slipcase. Unlike Vol. 1 there are no commentaries but there are 3 short 'discussions' that we will detail below.
Image quality: Columbia TriStar produced some excellent quality single-layered DVDs of classic films in the old days but this new Sony Noir package video rendering looks quite modest. Regarding Human Desire: Unfortunately, this is not the same excellent transfer as the Japanese set - as I, and many were hoping for. There are some small marks on the Japanese rendering that are not duplicated on the US so it appears to be a different source. The new Sony is dirtier, the single-layered transfer exports a hazier image with a lower bitrate and there is some green infiltration in the contrast. With the Japanese set being been out of print for such a long time (people are asking almost $400 USD for it) this was such an anticipated title for North America noir fans - as most do not own it, in any form, on DVD. The video transfer has to be considered a disappointment.
The Brothers Rico is similarly weak - in fact no transfer in the
set rises above 4.7 Mbps. They are all watchable and on the positive
The Pushover (showing some nice grain) and City of Fear
are reasonably strong with decent contrast and detail. Noise isn't
really a prevalent issue but I would have preferred that these were all
dual-layered transfers as opposed to single layered. In short they are
progressive and but nothing remarkable on the video side.
Audio was acceptable with all dialogue discernable and
without major faux-pas like devastating dropouts, pops or background
hiss. It was
consistent and clear enough and is supported with optional English
subtitles in a bright yellow font.
Extras this time don't offer a commentary this time and Eddie
Muller or James Ellroy would have raised the value here. We do get about 20
minutes in total soliloquy discussion from Emily Mortimer on Human Desire
, Martin Scorsese on The Brothers Rico and Christopher Nolan on City
of Fear. There are original trailers available fro every film. I'm sure many share my disappointment
that these extras weren't longer or gravitated into commentaries like Vol. 1.
Once again, I doubt my review words
would dissuade any true Noir fans from indulging in this package. Despite the
middling quality I'm sure many are thrilled to have Human Desire on DVD as
well as the other four films. Brothers Rico and Pushover are
marvelous examples of the dark style and I also enjoyed Nightfall and
City of Fear. It's a big win for fans despite any inferiorities or lack of
extensive supplements. Let's hope for a Volume 3 - stacked with dual-layered
transfer and commentaries! |
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Sample DVD Menus
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Supplements
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Pushover (1952)
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Human Desire (1953)
Subtitle Sample
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1) Columbia Tri-Star (JapaneseFilm Noir Classics Vol. 2) - Region 2
- NTSC TOP
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Screen Captures
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1) Columbia Tri-Star (JapaneseFilm Noir Classics Vol. 2) - Region 2
- NTSC TOP
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1) Columbia Tri-Star (JapaneseFilm Noir Classics Vol. 2) - Region 2 -
NTSC TOP
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Nightfall (1955)
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The Brothers Rico (1958)
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DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from:
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| Distribution | Sony - Region 1 - NTSC | |
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Gary Tooze |
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Thank You!